


Jolt

by Blue_Hood



Category: Black Panther (2018)
Genre: Alpha Erik Killmonger, Alpha Hunter, Alpha Jake, Alpha T'Challa (Marvel), Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern: Still Have Powers, Alternate Universe - Mutants, Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, Animal Traits, Anti-Hero, Arranged Marriage, Awesome Shuri (Marvel), Bets & Wagers, Cultural Differences, Dark Character, Dark Past, Depression, Education, Erik Killmonger Lives, Erik Killmonger Redemption, Genius Shuri (Marvel), How Do I Tag, Human Experimentation, Immigration & Emigration, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Kidnapping, Killing, Loss, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Military, Moving, Mutants, Omega Mandla, Omega Nakia, Omega Okoye, Omega Shuri, Orphans, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Multiple, Past Abuse, Past Child Abuse, Post-Loss, Scenting, Self-Acceptance, Self-Hatred, Suicidal Thoughts, Wakanda (Marvel), War Dogs (Marvel)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-18 16:21:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 13
Words: 8,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28620972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Hood/pseuds/Blue_Hood
Summary: The story of Princess Shuri finding her mate in a homeless speedster after a traumatic experience
Relationships: Nakia (Black Panther)/T'Challa, Ramonda/T'Chaka (Marvel), Shuri (Marvel)/Original Male Character(s)
Kudos: 3





	1. The Reluctant Hero

**Author's Note:**

> Each chapter is told from a different POV so the lengths may vary, I'm trying my hand at shifting POVs and thought I'd get some feedback. 
> 
> Warning: some narration may be disturbing. Bolt is depressed and basically trying to self-destruct at the start of the story, he doesn't take care of himself and he kills people.
> 
> Lemme know if I should add warnings and please read the tags before reading the story. Thank you.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our hero barely has a will to live yet he is a hero despite himself

**Jake POV:**

I stumbled away from the scene of my latest crime, thinking about how I would never do that again. The bastard deserved it but I couldn’t keep living like this. I didn’t want to live, period, which is why I was starving. Some cruel twist of fate kept me going, survival instinct I think it’s called. Right before I starve to death, I find food. It’s been a long couple of years since my sister died. Fucking bastard uncle lied, Jesse wasn’t gifted, her only gift was surviving his stupid fucking experiment and that cost her most of her brain function. I guess I was _lucky_ , sure my back would fit a monster but hey, at least I can think and hate and cover it up. God, I’m a monster either way and the fucking bastard started it when he killed his own sister, my mother. I had to kill him when I finally figured out what Vance had been trying to show us before ~~uncle~~ Chief let him go. Goddamnit how did I not notice he was using me to trap the Ravager?

I collapsed into a boarded up window, which of course gave way and caused me to fall, on my fucking jacked up back, into a condemned building. Goddamnit, I started to pull myself out when I heard punks nearby. Maybe, maybe one more piece of scum off the Earth wouldn’t dirty my soul too much, just gotta figure out which one. I collapsed against the wall under the window to listen to the bastards talking about fucking a princess. Who am I kidding? I could never stop at one, never let one rapist go in favor of another. No idea who the princess is but she’s about to get rescued. I threw myself out, not having the strength to hold myself steady enough to do this right but I don’t need it done right, I just need it done. I crashed into them as hard as I can, snatching a gun from the one guy who hit his head on the corner of a dumpster, killing him instantly since he hit it with the force of two human bodies. I shot the other guy then hurried in the direction they came, not wasting my gift until I found the place.

Once I do, and it’s obvious from the stench of Omegas on heat stimulants where the bastard Alphas came from, I tear through it, hitting every Alpha before slowing down once again. I can’t pass out now, I already know which one’s the princess and I sorta recognize her. Now, remembering what Chief taught me, I tugged my shirt and hoodie off, feeling dirty just being bare skinned in this place but the princess was being kept naked and gagged. Seeing cameras, I realized that I don’t have time to linger and my vision’s getting kinda spotty like I’m about to black out, which I probably am. I still carefully remove the damn gag and try to get her in my shirt before mentally saying screw it and tying the raggedy thing into a makeshift diaper then wrapping my hoodie around her upper body like a blanket. When she starts squirming as I try to cover her, I gently press her nose to my scent gland. Another thing I owe Chief, the ability to keep my emotions and my scent separate. I’m freaking out but my scent is calm. Picking her up in a sort of fireman’s carry, I asked “Where’s the embassy?” as I carefully carried her down stairs. I tried that a few times before switching tactics, “I wanna take you home. Where are you staying, baby?” Then she finally gives me an address in the form of a general area after the words Wakandan Embassy. I can do this. She can’t even tell I’m starving and exhausted. I’m pretty steady on my feet, all things considered. Stimulants always make me want to gag from the strength of the Omegas’ scents, I used to think they were better as a weapon against Alphas until I saw their intended use as a date rape drug, except heats last more than one night and these god forsaken things trigger an Omega’s heat.

I got her to the embassy in minutes and one of the fierce looking, Omega warrior ladies recognized what I was doing, making the princess scent to keep her calm. “Can I get another shirt or something for the princess?” They already have a clear view of my fucked up back.

The lady just told me to “Stay here,” I think I was in the princess’s quarters. I can’t handle the weight of two people on my back so I wind up sitting on the bed with the princess asleep in my lap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need feedback, please


	2. The General

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okoye has an idea

**Okoye’s POV:**

The princess was abducted from right under our noses then, hours later, a small teenage boy shows up out of thin air carrying her. She reeks of various Alphas and an unnaturally strong heat but his scent seems to be keeping her calm. The boy has one hand cradling the back of her head, forcing her nose into his scent gland and the other supporting her body against his. Based on his bare chest and her strange dress, it is clear that the boy fashioned some cover from his own clothes but that does not explain the lack of shoes. Regardless, his mannerisms and apparent actions indicate he means her no harm so I have them brought to a room in the embassy. Separating an Omega in heat from an Alpha they are currently scenting is a tricky and dangerous affair. If the king wants it done then he will have to do it himself, only a familial Alpha has even the slightest chance of safely doing it.

As he enters the room, I see his back for the first time. There are grooves in it, there is no other way to describe the strange horizontal lines that cover the back of his torso. Readjusting his hold, he manages to sit down on the bed without letting Shuri’s nose leave his scent gland. When he readjusts, I see how small he really is and he is not as small as he seemed at first. Yes the princess is bigger, possibly a few inches taller which makes his ability to keep her nose on his neck and safely carry her somewhat impressive. But, he was also quite literally skin and bones, he must be starving worse than Wakanda’s impoverished neighbors.

I have an idea and only vaguely hear him ask for a shirt for the princess, which only reinforces my belief in what I am about to attempt. I arrange for the usual heat survival kit, specifying light foods for the Alpha. Omegas in stress heats usually get light foods in case the stress makes us nauseous but any Alphas with us during this time tend to get an abundance of meat. Based on my understanding of starvation, that is not a good choice for what may be his first meal in a very long time. Reporting in, I open with “The princess is safe, due to the intervention of what I believe to be a mutant speedster.” As I brief the king, I subtly emphasize the speedster boy’s crucial aid. I don’t know whether to hope Shuri imprints, which would force her savior to come back to Wakanda with us at least until it fades, or hope she does not because imprinting makes an Omega very vulnerable and imprinting on a depressed Alpha could be dangerous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll take any feedback I can get


	3. The Princess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit more background on the events unfolding

**Shuri’s POV (starting before Jake found her):**

I was taken by surprise when my guards were shot down and I was suddenly pulled into a moving van. Inside the vehicle, I was held in place while they tried to force me to drink something. When I wouldn’t do it, my head was yanked backwards and someone pinched my nose to force me to drink whatever it was. I coughed up almost as much as I got down but they just kept forcing me to drink until I felt my muscles relax. Bast, I suddenly knew what was happening. I’d heard horror stories about heat houses, Nakia warned me that they snatched Omegas off the streets but I was under the impression that they targeted impoverished Omegas. Sure, Wakanda was still pretending to be poor even as we joined the UN but I’m a princess. Shooting my guards kinda proves I am not the easy target the Omegas in Nakia’s stories were. My abductors must have seen my muscles relax because they stopped holding me so harshly and merely kept the bottle in my mouth. Heat stimulants, Nakia had called the drugs used by traffickers, they made unnaturally strong and long heats, and some were even addictive. The mildest ones were called aphrodisiacs and some of those were legal, Nakia claimed that some Omegas were doped up on those because they were easier to get ahold of. I doubted I was being given those as I went into a full on heat before even finishing the bottle.

Unlike regular heats, my mind did not totally leave me. The drugs just made my body more pliant. My captors figured that out pretty quick and forced a gag into my mouth. My mind was muddled enough that I knew I would not be able to accurately describe any of them when I got out. Random Alphas took turns taking advantage of my vulnerable state, often talking about it as they did it like I wasn’t even there. I was only given breaks to ingest more stimulants. It was possible to fatally overdose on these drugs, which is what made them so dangerous. Omegas were essentially being poisoned the world round so that Alphas could pay to fuck them.

Eventually, I gave up on resisting, my body wasn’t cooperating and it wasn’t worth the risk of being poisoned. My concept of time was already skewed when we arrived at the heat house. The scent of Omegas in unnatural heats nearly had me choking, which is when the Alphas who snatched me first threatened to gag me. By the time help arrived, I had no idea if I had been there a few hours or a few days. I had eliminated the possibility of a few minutes due to the number of Alphas forced on me and I am quite sure that I would have passed out if I had gone a week without sleep. Help took the form of a boy smaller than me with super speed in frayed pants, a worn out hoodie and a raggedy shirt- not that I saw the shirt at first. When he saw me, he hesitated for a minute then removed the gag, giving me a chance to work out the tic in my jaw. Throwing it aside, he turned his back to me as he stripped off his hoodie and shirt in one go, pulling the shirt out of the hoodie before turning back.

Awkwardly he tried to dress me in his shirt but my muscles wouldn’t comply with either my mental commands or his physical attempts and he gave it up as a bust. The drugs made me unable to even stand up and so I collapsed against him when he tried to help me into the shirt. Moving quickly, he moved my head slightly so my nose was over his scent gland, which I was initially annoyed with before becoming grateful because his scent was amazing. I know the drugs addled my brain but, oh and now it’s clearer. He’s making me scent to slow the other physiological reactions. The slick feels gross enough between my legs as it is, I definitely don’t want more. Once he fashioned a diaper from his shirt, he tried to just wrap his hoodie around me since putting the shirt on properly didn’t work. From my position propped against him, I could see something weird on his back. Maybe it was part of his mutation but I doubted that. If a mutant had multiple mutations, there was usually a link and I couldn’t think of any way the jagged lines could be related to super speed.

The boy managed a parody of a fireman’s carry and took me to the embassy once I was able to give him a general location, the drugs messed with my brain just enough to make me an easy fuck as they were meant to. Strangely, his scent was calm even though he was clearly freaking out. I fell asleep in his arms, to my sheer embarrassment, and woke up in his arms with him sitting on a bed. He was asleep and even though I know I shouldn’t, I poked one of his back things. His instincts seemed to kick in and despite being clearly underweight- I could count ribs just by looking- he flipped us over and successfully pinned me. He stopped just short of growling and rocketed over to a corner in the room. Unfortunately, whoever designed the drugs designed them well and my heat kicked back in full force, causing me to whine with need. He was freaking out but decided to help me anyway, settling us back into our sleeping positions with my head on his shoulder, his scent making the stupid heat symptoms go away. I fell asleep within minutes, his scent was just so calming.

The second time I woke up was different from the first because the Alpha boy was trying some Wakandan cuisine. I knew from him freaking out that putting distance between us hurt me so I shimmied around to sit on his lap and he pulled the little cart closer so I could take whatever I wanted. The boy looked at the Wakandan dish he was eating the way Hunter looked at Starbucks, curious in a slightly disturbed way. I know that Hunter hates Starbucks from the one time I got him to go with me and the Dora Milaje to get the whole family Starbucks. Well, he had our money because the stupid country we were in had insane rules governing the money Omegas could handle and Hunter was the only Alpha in the family who wasn’t busy. Still, both the speedster boy and Hunter tried to eat what was given to them, even if they looked like they could not be more uncomfortable. I wasn’t sure my induced heat was over so I didn’t try to get up but I did ask “Do you have a name?”

“Jake.”

“Shuri.”

“Sleep.”

From growing up with Hunter, I understood his meaning. He didn’t want to talk, he just wanted me to eat and sleep until the drugs wore off. I frowned as it occurred to me that if I can count his ribs by looking then my body on his chest probably hurt. I tapped his arm, which was wrapped around me, and he moved it aside, enabling me to shift around so I was coming at his scent gland from the side. Being at his side also let me see that his body is weird. I watched as his chest instantly healed from the damage caused by me laying on him but my attention was drawn to the contrast between the front and back of his torso; there was kind of a jagged line running down his side that divided the two. His back has those weird things, they kinda look like gills but I am pretty sure he can’t breathe through them because he was breathing and they weren’t moving the way gills do when fish breathe. The gill-looking things line his back in straight, slightly jagged rows as if someone purposefully cut lines into his back to make those and that person did not have a steady hand. The skin on his back seemed thicker, if the fact I could not count his ribs from behind even with lines cut into him was any indication. I remembered from the first time I woke up that the gill/vent things felt almost like scales. I can see the difference in his side and arms- his skeletal system was only visible in the front, which was a huge clue. Then I realized, even accounting for his scent, my head is clearing up about as fast as it got muddled after I ate, which means the food I was given was drugged. I let out a huff of air, if they gave me a counter agent then they were probably watching it work and Jake was a foreigner. I might as well do what he asked while he was there. I finished the dish I took from the cart and leaned on his side, putting more weight on his back until he hissed in pain. Apparently thicker skin had its downsides, though I think both sides must hurt him equally. I fell asleep, drinking in his scent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment, please


	4. The Blast From The Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake knew Shuri's adoptive brother back before he was numb, before he knew the truth that set him on his path of self-destruction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In comics, T'Chaka adopted a white boy in comics canon who was called Hunter or the White Wolf. I took the name and applied it to an OC of mine, Vance Creed. He has Sabretooth's power, shares a dark past with Jake, and was adopted into the Wakandan Royal Family. His character will be expanded upon in this but those are the basics.

**Jake’s POV:**

They told me that there were drugs in the food to counteract the heat stimulants but that they would not affect me since heat stimulants did not affect Alphas. I understood their meaning, they wanted their princess back to normal quickly. Whether they knew it or not, heat stimulants could be dangerous. I closed my eyes against the flashback to Jesse then opened them and nodded. They left me alone with the food, various rice and soup dishes that smelled great. I wondered if the smell was meant to hide the drugs or just a happy coincidence. This was probably the best food I was ever going to get, I mean, I’m sharing with a princess after all. She woke up and asked my name, ate some rice thing then shifted to lean on my side. When she tried to put more of her weight on my back, clearly noticing how thick my skin was there, I did not suppress a hiss of pain. Because of how unevenly split the toughening of my skin was, sometimes it felt like I had heavy metal plates embedded in my back just under the skin and pushing on those plates hurt. I was used to the constant pain from Chief’s experiments. Once she stopped putting all her weight on my back and I finished my own rice dish, I was able to fall asleep.

When we woke up again, Vance was there. “Hunter!” Shuri almost knocked me down in her haste to run into Vance’s arms. Was he her Alpha? No, that was thinking like Chief. A familiar Alpha can do wonders for a distressed Omega but they do not have to be mates. Think! The guards are all Omegas, even the few male guards, and they let an Alpha enter a room where the princess may or may not be in heat because he is familiar, maybe he’s family. A sibling, maybe, I heard Vance was adopted into a strange nation called Wakanda and Shuri called this place the Wakandan Embassy. Maybe he was adopted by the king and queen, Shuri’s parents. After puzzling it together, I realized I didn’t care. I got up and slipped out of the room while they were catching up. I had no destination in mind, just not there.

A woman in a leather jacket passed me and curious, I followed her. Everyone here dressed weird, I guess they were dressed Wakandan style. Leather jackets and jeans did not seem to be a part of that style, which made the woman stand out. As I followed her, I started to realize she was purposefully leading me. Stupid Alpha stereotypes apparently reached Wakanda if they think I have to be tricked into doing what an Omega wants. Even though I’m always starving, people don’t try to take advantage of that because I am an Alpha with a chip on his shoulder, meaning I'm very dangerous. I knew I was more of a danger to myself than others, that’s why I was always starving. Wait, why am I following her when I know she is manipulating me? I stopped then I turned and fled, running straight into Vance as he and Shuri left the room. Crashing into Vance has always been like crashing into a wall, even that one time I managed to throw him into a wall, and I fell on my back hard. The pain clouded my mind and I forgot where I am, just the scent of Omegas around me, surrounding me. Then someone picked me up and got me away from them, moving just inside another room. They considerately set me on my feet instead of trying to lay me down on the bed before ducking out. Once the momentary confusion wore off, I realized that someone was Vance and that scared me even more, he must hate me, he’s gotta, I, we- I am on the floor before I know it and I hear the animalistic groan that is trademark Vance from the other side of the closed door. He opened the door and threw himself in, yanking me to my feet by my shoulder and shoving me towards the bed. He doesn’t need to say sleep, his actions speak loud enough. He is the perfect Alpha mix of strong and decisive so I really don’t have a choice but to obey. Then he’s gone, leaving me alone with nothing to do but exactly what he wanted me to do and that’s sleep. Maybe next time I wake up will be better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does anyone want me to post what I've written for the story this spun off of? It's called Wakandan Tiger and it's giving me no end of trouble. It's one of those stories you have to write in starts and stops as your muse comes and goes.  
> Lemme know, please


	5. The Protector

**Hunter/Vance’s POV:**

I was sent back to America to be a familiar Alpha presence for Shuri. Technically every one of our very few foreign missions had a few Alphas on staff, mostly the spouses of people we really needed to be there, because our people would not be able to get any work done if it got out that the embassies only had Omegas on staff. When the strategy was explained, Shuri had called that rude and said something to the effect of ‘but what can we expect of colonizers’ and I had to clap a hand over my mouth to avoid pointing out that Wakanda flaunts its flawed past all the time: case in point, Alphas weren’t allowed entry into the Dora Milaje but they were the only ones who could serve on the Council of Elders. Still, we were much further in Omega rights than literally anywhere else because with a few notable exceptions, anyone could do anything regardless of presentation and people weren’t judged for doing things that went against traditional pack dynamics. Sure, anyone could apply to medical school or enlist in the military in America but the prejudice was still super strong against Omegas doing so while our most elite military force was made up purely of Omegas.

Focusing, I saw Jake holding her and watched as they woke up almost in sync. The second my presence registered, Shuri launched herself at me with a cheer of “Hunter!” What immediately followed was her incessant babble and Jake figuring out our relationship before making his escape from the room. Thanks to his uncle, the Chief’s experiments, Jake had the senses of a Beta. He could tell what presentation everyone was but that was all he could tell, he couldn’t differentiate between people based on scent or read emotions through pheromones.

Jesse was worse off than that, Chief told her to befriend me then used her to cut me into pieces. When I didn’t like her after that- and I didn’t know that she had a severe cognitive impairment back then, or even what a cognitive impairment was- she was hurt. Jake saw Jesse hurt around me and assumed the worst, shoving me into a wall. Jesse’s cognitive impairment made her go along with whatever the Chief said, she trusted him and because he kept her isolated in the base, she never knew any better. I heard from Drifter, or Jonas as he goes by now, that Chief crossed a line and the CORE found his body in a crater, his wings torn off and his heart ripped out. Chief had told everyone that he kept Jesse close for her own good because her gift was very powerful. I call BS on that, Jesse had no gift aside from being extremely gullible, he used her so-called gift to make her feel guilty for things that never even freaking happened. Then he had his wings, the thing that marked him as special, torn off and his heart ripped out. As far as messages go, that one is pretty clear. Everyone who knows about the Chief knows that his apparent nephew- and I seriously doubt he shared any DNA with Jake or Jesse- killed him for good reason. The crater is a bit of a mystery since Jake is a speedster but maybe he had help. The fact that Jake is now starving, most likely depressed, and alone makes me believe that he ripped his own heart out along with the Chief’s, his only parental figure.

After I put Jake to bed, I gestured for Nakia to lead the way, since she had run towards Jake when he was coming our way, and she looked Shuri over before taking my sister to get some proper clothes. One of the Dora Milaje, I can’t focus enough to think of her name, led me to a video call with my parents. “Jake wants to die, I think.” I communicate best in short blurbs, often skipping half of the sentence I want to say because I am still not completely comfortable with speech. Since Nakia and T’Challa, and to a lesser extent Shuri, can all understand me, there is no problem with that. T’Challa will be king, he is the only person who really has to be able to understand me. My parents can also understand me but T’Challa and Nakia are the best at it, and I know how to speak normally, I just don’t like doing it.

“What makes you say that?”

“He asked for it.”

“What?” Nakia was pretty sure she’d notice, then she realized two things- one, she spoke out of turn and two, I was right.

Shuri still didn’t get it “When did he ask for death?”

“Floor.”

Rolling her eyes, Shuri translated “When he ran away from Nakia, he ran right into Hunter and fell down then he had a panic attack.” She glared at her brother “You know that’s not accurate.”

“Thin.”

Shuri gasped “He isn’t taking care of himself so you think he’s suicidally depressed.”

“Ran.”

Shuri turned to Nakia, who explained “He carried someone twice his size at super speed after starving himself, which is extremely dangerous. Plus his response to Hunter.”

“Omegas.”

“Right, Jake was raised- right.” Nakia’s ability to understand me would almost make us an ideal match for a betrothal but that ability seemed to be tied to her ability to anchor T’Challa, to get him out of his own head and help him figure things out. Perhaps she would make an excellent queen for him one day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need feedback like Hunter needs to get used to talking


	6. The War Dog

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake's reward for saving the princess: a new life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're skipping ahead to Wakanda a few weeks after the last chapter for these next chapters.

**Jake’s POV:**

Since arriving in Wakanda, I’ve grown back into my body. They actually had me on a freaking suicide watch and only let Shuri into my room under Alpha and Beta supervision. She talked me into an operation to fix my back but she forgot to mention it involved anesthesia. I can’t stand not knowing what is happening to me so that wasn’t easy, they actually held me down to sedate me. Apparently they conveniently realized and promptly forgot I’m not quite 18, or maybe I turned 18 since I’ve been here. I’m not sure, can’t even really remember my birthday. I suspect Chief never cared to actually keep track of it and just told me I was whatever age suited him, same with the other kids.

Oh and they actually let me take classes here. Apparently my skin color is problematic but my low test scores are even worse. The thing is that the king had to convince his council that letting me live here wasn’t going to lead to Wakanda being conquered and the way to do that was by getting me an appropriate job. I can take classes, they do not want an illiterate fool living among them and being monolingual is the same thing as illiterate in Wakanda, most people speak several languages here. Luckily, my training included linguistics and crash courses in foreign cultures as well as a lot of combat training, which is where I really shine, even though they tell me that my speed is not to be used, which is fine since the Chief had everyone learn how to fight and I was a star student. The linguistics and cultural studies are harder but it’s nice, even if they sort of had to create a class to teach me about Wakandan culture. I wasn’t in that class alone because the other American who came with me, Erik Stevens, was actually a long lost prince of Wakanda who had grown up wrong because the king, quite frankly, did not know he had a nephew until it was too late to pick him up. I don’t really know.

I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to know as much as I do. I’m also quite sure I don’t have a chance with the princess, even though everyone seems to think that’s the real reason I’m here, like Shuri and I are secret mates. I managed to ask one of the women who was at the embassy, who actually told me I could talk to her, about proper forms of address pretty early on. I know that I should use Shuri’s title whenever possible and also try not to speak with her directly if I don’t want people taking offense to my being familiar with her because she is the princess and before Erik, or N’Jadaka as they call him here, came into the picture, she was second-in-line. I managed to uncover the fact that Shuri would have likely been part of an arranged marriage if Alpha Prince N’Jadaka didn’t take her place as secondary heir to the throne. I told them what Chief used to call me, and what Chief called Vance, but I don’t think I’m gonna localize my name, I get the feeling that would be offensive. I mean, Vance was adopted into the Royal Family and they named him Hunter, instead of some local name. There’s gotta be a reason for that.

Overall, I guess I’m happy-ish. I’ll never be 100% happy, I don’t think. The Wakandans were amazed to learn I scent about as well as I project emotions through scent. By that I mean, I can tell what dynamic someone is and if an Omega is in heat but don’t ask me to guess emotions based on someone’s scent. Apparently, the Chief lied about my scent training. The man who murdered my mother, crippled my sister and fucked up my body lied. Imagine that. According to the Wakandans, and Shuri zapped me to double check, my scent never changes. Someone can read my scent about as well as I can read theirs, I guess that’s a better way of saying it.

Whatever, right at this very moment in time, I’m more than happy. I’m excited. Now, I'm being inducted into the War Dogs, Wakanda’s special forces/foreign intelligence agency. There were a few conditions tied to my membership but being a War Dog gave me citizenship without infringing too much on Wakandan traditions. Someday I will serve under Vance, everybody in Wakanda calls him Hunter the White Wolf but he’ll always be Vance Creed to me. This was my reward for saving the princess and it is awesome.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback would be greatly appreciated


	7. The Introvert

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look into the mind of the quietest person in the story

**Hunter’s POV:**

I may have stunted social skills but even I can tell Jake and Shuri are a perfect match. Nakia and I have a wager going to see how long it takes them to figure it out. Before we left New York, I found my cousin N’Jadaka, better known as Erik Stevens or Killmonger. I kinda kidnapped him so that Baba could talk to him. He was now second in line for the throne after T’Challa and a War Dog, the perfect place for him considering he has a very specific set of skills that earned him the name Killmonger. Surprisingly, he wasn’t sure about letting Jake join that pack but my former foster brother seems to have grown on him. Erik and I wrestle sometimes, T’Challa and I used to wrestle but he outgrew it.

Shuri was actually happy to have someone else take her place as second in line, which makes sense. When T’Challa assumed the throne, the council was going to pressure him to marry off Shuri to ensure a clear successor but now they both have time to find suitable mates. Jake is going to be spending a lot of time out of the country, proving his loyalty to Wakanda. Shuri actually made him specialized weapons that are powered by the energy he generates when he runs. How can neither of them see they’re courting? I almost regret making that wager with Nakia because now, I can’t knock some sense into them. It was cute when my little sister thought I had a crush on Mandla. To be honest, I set up that challenge to teach M’Baku humility and keep him from challenging T’Challa’s claim when he eventually ascends the throne. Sometimes I have dinner in the Jabari lands but I always come home to sleep in Wakanda.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback would be much appreciated


	8. The Clever Woman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nakia's basically a spy but I'm saving that title for when she uses her training. In case it's not obvious, I'm going for a theme with the chapter titles

**Nakia’s POV:**

Watching Jake and Shuri dance around each other was testing my self-control, I really wanted to laugh in their faces but that would be interfering in the bet I made with Hunter. For once, I’d like to win a bet against someone who isn’t T’Challa, it hardly counts when the person you’re betting against struggles to speak coherently around you. I will admit to finding it interesting that Jake can only scent four things: Alpha, Beta, Omega and Omega in heat. Apparently, his nose isn’t as sensitive as it should be so he has to rely on body language like a Beta to determine emotions and he is terrible at it. Then there’s the fact that his scent never changes. Shuri tested it, she even electrocuted him a little bit to see if pain created a strong enough emotional response, and nothing. His scent is in a perpetual state of calm regardless of what he is actually feeling. I find myself just as fascinated as everyone else who knew about his condition, except Hunter who couldn’t care less.

Our science was able to fix most of the Chief’s handiwork, giving him the back of a rhino and better balance than those strange plates and jagged lines had. He had to be held down while he was sedated because the doctors could not operate on a conscious patient. Shuri was able to calm him enough for him to not kill everyone in the room by freaking out. Now she was using her princess status to observe his induction into the War Dogs. Everyone, even Hunter, knew they were going to wind up together. Truth was, she was taking advantage of mate’s rights a bit early but we let her think it was her royal status that gave her this special access. The doctors required a few sleep studies before they would allow him to be inducted, to ensure he was healing properly from his operation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment, kudo, anything but don't leave without doing something to tell me you actually read this far


	9. The Smart Lady

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuri reflects on her relationship, or lack of one- future one?

**Shuri’s POV:**

I am not as oblivious as everyone seems to think I am. I know I love Jake, it is he who is oblivious. T’Challa and I are having fun not being the oblivious ones for once, although I still think he should get over himself and court Nakia properly. We are waiting for Nakia and Hunter to blow up on each other so we can get blackmail material on them.

Once that is done, I will happily beat Jake over the head with a brick until he gets it through his mutant thick skull that I do not hate him. In fact, I even understand how he came to that ridiculous conclusion. We met when I was at my most vulnerable and in his experience, Alphas alway exploited Omegas then. His Omega uncle drilled that into his head, using him as a weapon to keep all kinds of mutants under his thumb. The fact remains that he did the opposite of exploit me. Jake even thought to have me take contraceptives once the heat stimulants were out of my system and check to make sure I did not get an STD or STI from those bastards. I did not, and if I had then I would have visited Hunter’s American twin brother Vincent to have him heal me.

Hunter does not want his twin to know he was alive because he believes that his being a Wakandan royal would be hard to explain, which it would be, and because he does not know his brother well enough to feel kinship. With his condition, I imagine a new person suddenly claiming to be family would cause too much stress for him to safely deal with. I once jokingly called him unkillable and he disagreed because drowning should theoretically kill him. I find that very sad but it also helped me understand Jake enough to help him. He did not want to die, per se, he just cannot imagine living as he had. Once he was in Wakanda, he listed off all the people he had killed, many of whom he never knew the names of and only had stories of their demise, in the hopes that we would see reason and execute him. His confession only helped smooth his transition as Baba was able to use it to demonstrate a lack of loyalty towards outsiders and the skills to catch up to our high standards for War Dogs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone enjoy quiet badass Queen Ramonda? Lemme know if you did


	10. The Queen Mother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ramonda reflects the situation with T'Chaka

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A challenge is mentioned in this chapter that will be explained later. All that is necessary to understand is that T'Chaka and Ramonda consider Hunter their son, a view that does not really mesh with the slightly racist isolationist Wakandan culture. I have decided to try to make this the main story, even though it began as a spin off to another fic.

**Ramonda’s POV:**

I believe Jake will be good for Shuri, his reserved nature will balance out her occasionally overconfident nature nicely. T’Chaka has already gotten the council on their side by convincing them to let Jake join the War Dogs. He will have a probationary period, wherein he can be executed for breaking the rules and I sincerely hope he does not test those bounds. Shuri would be heartbroken if her love was killed before they could even court. I am aware that two of my children are biding their time to mess with their brother. My husband, their father is unfortunately as blind to this as Hunter himself. During one of our private lunches, I decided to level with my mate, “We are wading into new waters with Jake.”

“I am aware.”

“Are you aware Hunter has begun a wager with Nakia regarding Shuri’s future courtship? I can assure you, all three of our children are aware of that.”

T’Chaka deflected, “T’Challa has come very far in his understanding of subtlety.”

“It would seem that Jake is the only person in Wakanda who does not know Shuri loves him,” I countered.

T’Chaka nodded “We knew when we adopted Hunter that would only be the beginning, that our decision to include a foreigner in our family would change a great many things. I believe that Jake is not a particularly bad omen. Much like Hunter, he seems to be thriving.” He reached out and covered one of my hands with his own, “The council worries that his loyalties might again shift in the future but, should Jake catch onto the truth we all know, his loyalty would be assured. The council was always going to press for an arranged marriage, I can convince them that Jake is the best possible suitor while he proves himself an asset to the kingdom.”

“So long as you have an actual plan.”

T’Chaka smiled “Are we going to allow our children to continue this little game of theirs?”

“I don’t see the harm in it. T’Challa and Shuri are both building patience while they wait for Hunter’s to run out. Speaking of, are you going to take the Jabari chief up on his offer?”

“I am considering putting it to the council. M’Baku lost the challenge.”

“M’Baku is a boy, a strong one at that but he is still human and Hunter is not, human that is.”

“I know. If not for that challenge, I would accept the offer happily but because M’Baku lost the challenge and a betrothal is what was offered, I would like to use the council as a sounding board.”

“I see. You will need to inform the chieftain of this plan, make sure the offer will still be there if you get the council’s support.”

“I will heed your council.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback much appreciated


	11. The Weapon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake does what he was raised to do

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another jump into the future. This time set after Jake’s wracked up quite a few successful missions.

**Jake’s POV:**

I may not be allowed to use my speed in training but it has been very useful in the recovery missions I keep getting sent on. Because of my back, I can’t really do undercover work. Now I am heading back to Wakanda for some shore leave. My timing is pretty good, Nakia just wrapped up her own mission so we’re on the same jet. She kept giving me assessing looks until I finally asked “What’s up?”

“Your back isn’t really a good reason not to take advantage of your Alpha status,” she answered.

“Um, okay. Aren’t we both legally required to take time off or is the law different depending on the mission?”

“Both.” We lapsed into silence after that.

As we neared Wakanda, I noticed something out the window and shot over to the controls, managing to tilt the ship seconds before we would have been blasted out of the sky. Some kind of instinct, probably from when I was little and Chief made me learn how to make a plane, guided me to take us into a crash landing in a secluded area, briefly dropping our cloaking. “Why’d you drop our cloaking?”

“Easier to hoaxify any video.”

I ran to where the weapons were stored and grabbed a spear, racing out as soon as the ramp lowered. There was only one thing, one person who could possibly be behind that blast. My War Dog training combined with the combat training Chief arranged for me and made incapacitating the mutants Jericho had forced to follow him a simple matter. For the man himself, I ran around him and planted the spear in the ground then hit him fast and hard, making sure he went down on the spear. Grabbing it, I twirled the weapon in my hand, flipping Jericho onto his stomach. Quickly withdrawing the spear from his neck, I buried its tip into the base of his skull. Under the Chief, I was raised to do this, to kill Jericho. As I guessed, it worked or seemed to at least, Jericho is infamous for coming back from the dead with a vengeance so I finished the job by returning the spear to his neck, driving it all the way through so I could cut off his head. When the spear had left his neck, Jericho had let desperation consume him, he was briefly glowing and I could only guess, hope really, that was because he had drawn all of his exerted power into himself. I took his head to the jet then rounded up his lackeys, explaining to the others “That was Jericho. He-”

Nakia said “I know, he uses his power to control his followers. They won’t be staying long.” A moment after she finished speaking, some old conditioning kicked in and I passed out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is good


	12. The Observer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the victory comes the fall. Calm follows the storm and precedes it.

**Nakia’s POV:**

Jake collapsed as soon as I assured him we would take care of Jericho’s victims. Without warning, his body fell limp on the floor of the jet. He was still carrying a couple victims, resulting in a pile. Moving quickly, those of us still conscious and alive got everyone else strapped in. Jake’s scent, I noticed, was changing. The endless calm that he usually gave out was different, like perhaps his body was catching up with him.

We flew to Wakanda, calling ahead to explain our diversion and report what we picked up. Hunter had just started looking Jake over when the smaller mutant suddenly awoke and tried to punch him. Hunter calmly caught his hand, holding it as he stared into the other Alpha's eyes. Within moments of the attempted attack, Jake was calming down. Hunter released his hand and used his uninjured hand to set the broken bones in his other hand.

I asked Jake “What happened? How did you know how to fly the jet?”

“I learned how to build a plane when I was little and I have been on that plane before, I have seen how it’s flown. As for what happened, I did what the Chief raised me to do, I killed Jericho.”

“Why did you then collapse?”

“Right before I killed him, I think Jericho tried to collect all of his power, drawing the energy he released over time back into himself. I guess I had some of that power within me and my body shut down all non-essential functions while it adapted. That’s just a guess, a theory. Were any of his victims radioactive? If they weren’t then that would back up my theory.”

“How can you be so smart and do so badly on tests?”

“I took those tests before we found the right mix of meds and therapy. I didn’t care about life, much less a written test. Plus, I wasn’t taught that way.” Jake stopped to think “I was taught by doing. I learned something then had to apply it. I never learned anything that didn’t have a practical application. I learned to build a plane so that I could repair a plane efficiently because we had a plane and that was the only way out that didn’t involve stairs. In an evacuation, putting everyone who couldn’t walk on a plane could save a lot of lives. Maybe if I had grown up in a home not a base, plane building wouldn’t be practical knowledge but given my living situation, it was. You learned differently. Like most of the world, you learn something so you can use it to learn something else then you never use the first thing you learned, the original knowledge was lost to time.”

“How many languages do you speak?” asked Shuri, curious.

“Uh, five or ten, depending on how you count sign language. I learned the spoken word and the sign equivalent. I use American sign for English not British sign because I speak American English.”

I asked “How is sign language practical knowledge?”

“Silent communication and the built-in assumption that the user cannot hear, which causes people to look past you even when they’re looking for you.”

I agreed “That is very useful, for hiding in plain sight.” I realized then that his scent was normal, for an Alpha not for him.

Shuri noticed the same thing and commented, “I think your body reset itself while you were unconscious.”

Jake nodded “I know. I noticed I could read Hunter’s emotions by his scent when he was holding my fist.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback makes the world go round.


	13. The Sweetheart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuri gives up the game on Hunter and Nakia

**Shuri’s POV:**

In the week since Jericho’s death, my fellow scientists have taken an interest in examining his remains after Jake shared the mad man’s reputation. According to Jake, Jericho was able to absorb all kinds of energy and convert that energy to do whatever he wanted. He could make people sick, make them die a slow and painful death from radiation poisoning. The mutant’s favorite use for his powers was against other mutants. He would infect them with his energy, use it to control them. Having been under the Chief’s control not Jericho’s, Jake was not sure what exactly that entailed. Nakia reported that Jericho seemed to age rapidly when Jake delivered the killing blow and Jake confirmed Jericho deaging was what led him to believe the man was trying to gather up his power.

Although I was not very involved in the study of his remains, his head interested me. Jake claimed that Hunter and a telekinetic named Jonas were each given the name Ravager by Jericho. He explained that before he did what he did last week, only the Ravagers had ever beaten Jericho. Those claims are the reason the head of the corpse interests me. Hunter, who was claws and enhanced strength, who could theoretically survive a nuclear bomb, has beat Jericho but never successfully killed him. Jonas, a powerful telekinetic, someone who could puree Jericho’s internal organs with his mind, failed to permanently defeat Jericho. Jake only has super speed, he doesn’t have the tolerance either of the Ravagers developed prior to turning on Jericho. I am not very well versed in the squishy sciences but I suspect that we are not seeing the full picture. I shared my suspicions with the scientists studying the body, asking if they could figure out why Jake succeeded where the Ravagers had failed.

As entertaining as letting Nakia and Hunter think they were clever had been, I decided to end their game by letting them know directly that I know about their wager before talking to Jake. I knew he had a problem pursuing a relationship with me because I am a princess and apparently that makes such a courtship wrong. I caught him in a courtyard, “Jake?”

“Princess Shuri,” he stood up from the bench he was sitting on and looked conflicted, the way he always did when addressing me since we came to Wakanda.

“Please sit down.” I kept some distance between us on the bench, trying not to make him too uncomfortable. “Have you read up on dynamics in Wakandan culture yet?”

“Uh, no. Why?”

I expected that answer since he said that he did not learn anything he did not think would have a practical application in his life. I had considered bringing him a book but that would be redundant since I would have to explain why I was giving him a book, which would involve explaining the contents. For simplicity sake, I decided to just talk to him. “I know you are aware that we have betrothals but those are actually rare.”

“What?”

“My cousin, N’Jadaka, is second in line for the throne because he is his father’s firstborn.” I explained “If not for him, there would be a chance my marriage would be arranged if I did not have a mate before my brother, T’Challa ascends the throne. With N’Jadaka here, the odds of my being betrothed are much worse.”

“I don’t understand why you’re telling me this.”

“Wakandan law states that you cannot mate someone without their consent. There is no law saying that members of the royal family must marry someone who fits some set criteria. If that were the case, T’Challa would have been betrothed when his secondary gender became clear, to further the royal line. Do you understand that?”

“You’re saying anyone can court a royal as long as the royal is receptive?”

“Yes.”

“You’re telling me this because you think that’s why I haven’t tried to court you, that I thought I would be breaking some Wakandan rules.”

“It’s not?”

“No, it’s not.”

“Now, I’m confused.”

“You know about the Chief? An Omega who created an army of child soldiers, experimented on me, fucked with my head, possibly gave my alleged sister a cognitive impairment, yadda, yadda, yadda.”

“Of course I know about the Chief.”

“Well then you can probably guess what I know about dynamics comes from him and trying to apply that knowledge never freaking works.” Jake confided “When I first heard about heat stimulants, I considered them a good weapon against Alphas.”

“How did you come to that conclusion?”

“You might recall that a month ago, I could only tell if someone was an Alpha, Beta, Omega or Omega in heat. And I’ve never had normal Alpha instincts, I didn’t rut when I presented, you might have noticed I don’t have much trouble with others taking charge. The Chief was an Omega, he created an army of weaponized children, he took a hands on approach to manipulating his favorites, myself included. Like I said, he fucked with my head. Thanks for telling me how unique Wakanda is when it comes to royals and betrothals but I need to learn what normal is and I’d like to do that before I get into something that has the potential to be very complicated.”

“Okay. That I understand.” I said “About the books, I could give you a translator.”

“Grammar rules differ too much but thank you. Does Wakanda have its own sign language?”

“I think so. Why?”

“Sign languages have the basic components of their spoken equivalent. I know it might seem backwards, learning sign language first but it works for me.”

“Hunter, I know, is fluent in Wakandan sign, he translates for Mandla when the Jabari visit.”

“Mandla?”

“The Jabari chief has two sons, M’Baku and Mandla. M’Baku is the heir so people tend to focus on him. Mandla is mute, he signs and Hunter translates. They are betrothed.”

“What? But you said-”

“The Jabari are traditionalists, Hunter is betrothed because Mandla’s father saw them growing close and sought a betrothal to keep with Jabari culture. The Jabari were isolated from the rest of Wakanda for centuries, they only came out of isolation because M’Baku lost to Hunter in a duel. You could ask Hunter to teach you sign, if that really does help you learn a language.”

“Thanks for the advice.”


End file.
